First Look at Cabal Episode V: Mercenaries

This December CABAL Online will release its latest free content expansion – Episode IV: Mercenaries. Hot on the heels of Episode IV, which saw an increase to the level cap and the opening of a new region in the game in October, Episode V will continue to add exciting new content for players of all levels to enjoy, including NPC mercenaries, a mailing system and a complete overhaul to the dungeons and drop rate systems.

For the first time ever the update will go live globally during the same month, with players in the United States and Europe enjoying the content before players in Korea. It highlights the global nature of the game, with the development team keen to deliver on the content most wanted by players worldwide.

Mercenary System The mercenary system will allow players to summon a helping hand, in the form of a NPC-controlled character, while inside the dungeons of the game. It opens up a brand new objective to achieve, with a whole variety of different mercenaries available to find and “recruit”.

While group play and team work will remain an essential part of the game, the introduction of mercenaries will assist in the creation of balanced parties to take on the most challenging encounters. As a fully functioning member of the group (and counted as one of the seven party members), mercenaries will have a number of benefits. This includes buffs and stat boosts for the entire party, while mercenaries will join in by attacking monsters that either damage, or are damaged by, their summoner.

On launch six different mercenaries will be available, based off the six classes of the game and will be obtainable on completion of a series of quests. They will vary in strength with four different grades – normal, rare, epic and unique – with new and stronger mercenaries set for release in future updates.

Dungeon Leader boards One of the central features of CABAL Online are the fast-paced, hugely chaotic, timed dungeons. From the solo DX dungeons – which require players to complete a quest within a very short time frame – to the large party dungeons which require quick thinking to complete before the clock runs out, getting the best possible time has long been an unrewarded aim.

This has finally been recognised within the game itself, with the introduction of a leader board system. On entering each dungeon, a clear ranking will be displayed of those who have completed it in the fastest time. It will set a clear goal and challenge, with the aim no longer to simply complete the dungeon but to do so in the fastest possible time. To support the new competitive dungeons a number of other features have been added. This includes:

– The ability to pause a dungeon, for those incidents where a player needs to a break.

– A dungeon chat channel, so groups competing against one another can discuss how they are progressing.

– A dungeon interface, showing all of the dungeons inside of the game with the requirements to enter.

Improved Drop Rates Combining with the new competitive incentive to enter the games dungeons, the drop rate system has been overhauled to provide a much more rewarding experience. The majority of high level equipment will now drop as “bind on equip”, allowing a significantly higher drop rate of these items than in the past. This is an important, and no doubt a welcome, change for players of the game.

Ability to send mails (Mailing System) A long requested feature has been the ability to use the games mailing system to send messages between players. This has now been made possible, with the option to send messages, gold and items to any player – whether online or offline – inside of the game.

Two pets to train (Dual Pets) Expanding on the existing pet system, it will now be possible to equip two pets. Both of the pets will follow their owner and will level up to provide slots to be filled with stat boosts. CABAL has a huge range of pets to select from, ranging from flying parrots, to burrowing moles and ninja cats.

New Quests A whole host of new challenging quests have been added to the game, including dungeon quests, starter quests and the quest to find the ‘Ring of Tyrant’. Continuing with the recent trend of adding difficult quests, with epic rewards, those who manage to obtain the Ring of Tyrant will equip one of the strongest rings to be found anywhere in the world of Nevareth.

Added Functionality The gameplay has been made even smoother and more convenient with a whole host of improvements to the basic functionality. Notable improvements include:

– Ability to switch channels in the game without the need to log out

– Option of viewing another player’s equipment

– Alarm which notifies a logging out player that there are still daily quests to do

– Favourite function to quickly find certain items in the Auction house

CABAL Episode V will go live globally this December. This is only a partial summary of the major new features, with other changes, additions and bug fixes planned. For the latest news and information visit www.cabal.com (US) / www.cabalonline.com (Europe)